Current Newsletter

Olá from Fonte de Baixo.

Olives, Chestnuts and the last of the summer wine - describes this month's activity. The olives have turned black and soft ready for picking and pressing, a task full of joy and satisfaction. The sweet-chestnut trees have had a bumper crop this year and we will be sharing with you some of the wonderful Portuguese recipes in next month's newsletter. As for the last of our grapes they have started to ferment on the vine resulting in a heady sweetness that is divine.

This month we planted our first fruit trees with lemons, peaches and nectarines being the first to go in. The credit crunch has had an impact on the speed of our building projects, so we have deliberately slowed things down for a while as the Euro strengthens against Sterling.

Pay a visit to our events page where we have posted a list of working break opportunities and a couple of workshops Bruni and I will be running early next year. Making friends is very much at the heart of Ahimsa-Portugal and his month we made some new friends Darren and Juliet Keohane together with their children Hannah and Summer. Darren is a very talented dry-stone waller and has offered to help and guide us in rebuilding some of the damaged terrace walls in the spring. If anyone is interested in learning this wonderful skill and would like to come out to Portugal to help us, then please drop us a mail at garriwiest@aol.com with dry-stone walling in the subject line and we will send you some details. Darren and Juliet have a fabulous house with B&B facilities and can be contacted via our website.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda is called the "Science of Life". It was developed in India 5000 years ago and is the worlds most complete and comprehensive teaching of medicine. It sees the body as a living organism, not a biochemical system. Therapies, medicines and foods are chosen for their energetic qualities, not their vitamin- or mineral context. The main emphasis is to prevent illness through a balanced life style which suits your individual constitution.

Everything in the universe consists of the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air and space.

Let's have a look how the elements show up in our body and mind:

Earth
The earth gives us a feeling of groundedness, stability and security.
Its main qualities are: heavy, tough, hard, stable, dense
In the body this shows in the physical structure, especially the bones, and the sense of smell.
In the mind it gives us mental stability.

Water
Water has a flowing dissolving, carrying and cleansing quality, but no stability.
Its main qualities are: liquid, wet, cold, soft.
In the body this shows in the liquid substances of urin, blood, sperms, brain and bone marrow and taste.
In the mind it gives us gentleness, love and compassion.

Fire
Fire has the ability to transform solids to liquids to gas and vice versa.
Its main qualities are: hot, sharp, subtle, light
In the body it has no substance, but shows in metabolism, digestion, appetite, radiance and vision.
In the mind it gives us perception.

Air
Air is gaseous and mobile. It has no form and is responsible for all movement.
Its main qualities are light, cold, rough, dry, and subtle.
In the body it is responsible for nerve impulses, all movement, the breath and sense of touch.
In the mind it is the force which moves thought.

Ether
Ether is the space which separates and connects matter.
Its qualities are: soft, light, subtle, smooth.
In the body it shows in cavities, porosity, lightness, tubes, channels, pores, all sounds and hearing.
In the mind it is pure consciousness.

Your basic constitution (or DOSHA), taking into account physical, mental, emotional and spiritual characteristics, was determined at the moment of conception.

VATA combines the qualities of air and space
PITTA combines the qualities of fire and water
KAPHA combines the qualities of earth and water.

You might have an idea already what is strong and weak in your own constitution. Take our Dosha Test to find out more. Print off the form and tick one box in each line.
Next month I will write about some basic recommendations for each type.

Open the Dosha Questionnaire (PDF)

Ahimsa-Kitchen

With the last of the summer days rapidly fading the thought of warm soups and casseroles is so tantalising. This month we have a selection of Portuguese specialities to warm you through during these chilly days of autumn and early winter.

Tomato Soup (Tomatada)

Serves 4

The bread makes this both a nourishing and substantial soup. The recipe originates in Alentejo, in southern Portugal, where poor people created fantastic soups simply with water and a combination of wild herbs and vegetables, such as coriander, asparagus, garlic, olive oil and always bread. On special occasion, they would add some goats cheese or an egg. A simple and tasty dish fit for any occasion. 

Ingredients:

50ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
6 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1 fresh oregano sprig
1 litre vegetable stock
4 small slices of dry bread cut into cubes
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Salt & pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until the onion has softened. Add the garlic, tomatoes and oregano and cook for a further 5 minutes.
2. Pour in the stock, season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until completely heated through.
3. Add the bread and coriander and cook for a couple of minutes until the bread is full incorporated. Serve immediately.

Butternut Squash & Queijo da Llha Rice

Serves 4

This is a real autumn classic and our crop of squashes, pumpkins are ushering the cooler weather and the desire for comfort food and deep rich flavours. We set up an irrigation pipe in the plot we used and punctured the pipe along its length and although it only ever a trickle going through it from one of our water cisterns the fruits are some of the best we have ever grown.

Ingredients:

400g butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
3 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, peeled and diced
1 tbsp Pernod
300g Carnaroli or Arborio rice
1.2L vegetable stock, hot
40g Queijo da Llha, grated (alternatively use Parmesan)
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper
25g butter

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and place the squash in a roasting tin and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and roast for 25 minutes.
2. Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan and fry the shallots for2-3 minutes until the grains begin to become clear. Add the Pernod and simmer for 2 minutes before adding the rice.
3. Keeping the stock warm in another pan, gradually add a ladle at a time, stirring gently all the time.
4. When the stock is absorbed and the rice is cooked, add the squash, Queijo da Llha (or Parmesan) and thyme leaves and season to taste. Just before serving stir in the butter to give the rice and lovely shine.

Almond Biscuits (Arrepiados)

Makes about 25

These almond biscuits perfectly complement both coffee and an after-supper glass of Port. If you prefer them flatter, add some butter so they drain while baking. Using roughly ground almonds gives the biscuits a crispier texture. Alternatively, make them with a mixture of hazelnuts and almonds, or just hazelnuts.

Ingredients:

500g ground almonds
200g light brown sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
2-3 eggs, lightly beaten
Grated rind of 1 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix all the ingredients together until blended, using enough beaten egg to make a stiff paste. Shape into little balls.
2. Place the balls on a non-stick baking sheet, spaced well apart, and gently flatten them. Bake for around 10 minutes, until light brown. Leave to stand for 2 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sustainability Tip

One of the core values at Ahimsa is that we try as much as possible to live and work with nature. We are very conscious of our foot print, not only the energy we use but across everything we do. Ahimsa means to do no harm or at least to minimise our impact as much as we can. Below are some of the ideas that we are putting into practice and perhaps you could try some of them too?

Permaculture Solutions

In a desperate quest to own and consume, people get stressed, and an otherwise stable society breaks down. Many people feel vaguely uncomfortable, and others actually ask: with all our technology, information and resources, surely we can have a safer, saner world than whats currently around us?

Permacultures solutions are driven by a desire to actively work towards a safer, saner world, that is a nicer place to live, as well as being a place where future generations can live. But the solutions are challenging, as they involve a change in thinking from constant growth to managed reduction.

1. Planning the descent

Instead of constantly striving to climb to new heights, we need to think about coming back down the mountain. The last 300 years, and especially the last 60, have seen a huge growth in human population, based on a parallel exploitation of the earths natural resources fossil fuels like oil, coal, gas and natural resources like fish, forests and topsoil. Politicians and economists call this economic growth and its generally considered to be a good thing, especially if you want to get re-elected to government or stay at the top in business. Up to a point, this is natural every group of plants, animals, or bacteria do the same when there is plenty of food and energy the population grows rapidly.

However, growth never continues indefinitely. Either a population uses up all the resources that have given it the chance to grow and the population collapses again; or it moves on to a new set of resources and continues growing.  Humans, over the last few generations, have always been able to find new resources, but there are many indications we have already passed the point where new resources are available. We live on a planet with finite physical resources, but we do have incoming solar energy and a lot of human ingenuity, using the sun and these resources we can sustain human life.

Living in the affluent countries of the world during the last three centuries has been about living in a world of constant growth and change. It is like climbing a mountain lots of energy is needed and new tasks have to be achieved with every step. At the top of the mountain, you have to find your way back down. This can often be the most dangerous part especially if the options are clouded by mist and rain.

In the last 100 years, the human population has suddenly accessed a huge amount of oil, gas and coal, and experienced an unprecedented period of growth. Most people have been using increasingly more of these resources as they climb up the side of the mountain. Climbing up has been hard work, competitive and energetic. Being at the top it is exhilarating (we can see the whole world from up here), but also dangerous (which way down, is it steep, or is the weather going to change?)

It is now time to adapt fossil fuels are declining and the descent needs to be planned. This descent to a lifestyle based on less fossil fuel energy could be chaotic, or using permaculture principles, it could be graceful and creative. If you are a bike rider, all the work of getting up the hill is towards the prospect of a good descent! Only one thing is certain, we cant go up for ever. We wont have this abundance of oil and gas again, so we need to plan differently

While the sun goes on shining (probably for millions of years) we have a great source of energy, but it comes in a different form to the concentrated supplies of oil, gas and coal. We have been living in a fossil fuel economy. Now we need to adapt to the solar economy by converting sunlight into things we need. Visit www.solarpowervillage.info to see what is already happening in Alentejo, Southern Portugal.

2. Converting the sun into what we need

The best way to convert sunlight into something we can use is by growing plants and humans have been doing this for a long time. Perennial plants are especially useful, as unlike wheat, rice, maize and potato, they need little labour or fossil fuel in tractors. Hence the perma (nent) in perma-culture.

Not only do humans have a lot of experience in growing plants, plants have had millions of years to perfect the process of photosynthesis trees naturally turn the fairly dilute energy of sunlight into food and energy for themselves and wood, fruit, medicine, fibre etc. that we can harvest.

Using the sun

There are enough studies showing how much solar energy is available to us, and how little we use it. Although solar hot water, passive heating of houses and photo-voltaic cells are options, a simple low cost starting point is to allow plants to do the work for us. They are sophisticated converters of sunlight, with millions of years experience.

By using permaculture principles, we will inevitably design and create environments full of useful plants, which in turn will help the human population find ways down the mountain, or at least a plateau, where we can stabilise and assess new options.

Projeto-Ahimsas aim is to show how living in a system powered by the sun (the solar economy) rather than oil (the fossil fuel economy) is the logical alternative.

3. An ethical approach Limits to growth the precautionary principle

There are some who argue despite all the evidence, we can go on growing, and contend there are always new sources of energy and material to be used. Its true there are often false peaks as you climb a mountain you think you can see the top, but when arriving all you see is yet another higher peak. It may be that the next part of the way up is for humans to find ways to settle new planets, but at present this is not possible for the average family to consider.

Bruni and I feel we have done all the economic growing that we need to do. Instead, we feel the need to grow a lot more trees, as permaculture shows that perennial plant systems are the only sustainable way to convert sunlight into products that we need for food, fibre, medicine and shelter. During this month we aim to plant over forty fruit trees of various varieties to provide fruit and shade during the summer and autumn and a variety of blossoms for the bees in the spring.

Many people are in tune with the following thoughts, expressed by Robert Hart, who spent his life developing ethical and sustainable projects. He writes: With our present knowledge, there is no technical reason why every woman, man and child on Gaias earth should not be adequately fed, clothed, housed and given the opportunity for self realisation.   In the history of human evolution, a new species is appearing in many parts of the world a species endowed with the mental, moral, and spiritual qualities fitting it to co-operate with Gaias self-healing capacities. It would be positive to call the new species Homo altuisticus.

The Bees

During October and November the bees are settling down for winter. They cluster together and keep warm by exercising their flight muscles (without moving their wings!) This generates heat and they are able to keep the centre of the cluster to a temperature of 33°C (whilst there is brood) and about 20°C if the queen has stopped laying eggs in the depth of winter.  

This is an amazing feat but will use a lot of fuel hence the need for plenty sugar stores. It is said that in really cold weather the bees on the outside of the cluster open their wings to provide yet another layer of insulation to preserve heat. When the bees on the outside of the cluster cool to about 8°C they will move into the centre of the cluster and be replaced by other bees. Bees whose body temperature falls below this level become torpid and are unable to warm themselves. They will fall off the cluster and die. This process helps the colony numbers so that the colony is strong enough to recover after winter.

Almond and Walnut Cleanser

This is a very gentle cleanser suitable for dry and sensitive skin.

Ingredients:

Equal amounts of:
Walnuts
Fine oatmeal
Ground almonds
Water or milk

Grind the walnuts to a coarse powder and mix with equal quantities of the oatmeal and ground almonds.

Store the mixture in an airtight container.

To use, mix a small handful of the powder to a smooth paste using water (for oily skin) or milk (for dry skin).

Rub it into your skin gently for dry vata or sensitive pitta complexions using small circular movements. Massage off with warm, followed by cool, water.

If you like use a spritz of rose water to tone the skin.

Winter Warmer Body Oil

Ingredients:

100 ml cold pressed pure sesame or almond oil
15 drops of orange oil
6 drops of cinnamon oil
3 drops of clove oil

Mix together in a glass bottle and massage all over the body after a shower, starting with the feet. Work your way up to the neck. Use upward sweeping strokes to improve circulation.

You can also put 2 tbsp. of the mixture into your bath.

If you want to add anything to our newsletter, events, workshops, ideas or services for sale or trade, please don't hesitate to send them through and we are happy to add them to future newsletters.

From Projeto-Ahimsa and Fonte de Baixo -